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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

More Youths Crossing U.S.-Mexico Border Alone

HARLINGEN, Texas — They come from Central America with slips of paper sewn into their pockets bearing names they are sometimes too young to spell. Parents send them with Bibles, rosaries and small wooden crosses in their backpacks.


The flood of undocumented immigrants has slowed compared to five years ago — likely due to tighter border enforcement and the economic downturn in the U.S. — but in its place is a new immigration surge even more confounding: children and teenagers traveling through the rugged border lands into south Texas, lured by the promise of safety. Up to 120 unaccompanied youths are arriving each day, officials say, a number that has tripled over the last five years and that by some estimates could soon reach 60,000 a year.

The southeastern edge of Texas has become the busiest border crossing in the country for these wandering youths, most of whom are adolescents, though some are as young as 5 or 6. Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents apprehended more than 21,000 minors traveling without families on a roughly 315-mile stretch of the Rio Grande that runs west from Harlingen to the south of Laredo. That was more than half the total of 38,833 detained nationwide.
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

On PAC 14 Monday night, one of the city council members stated that the zoo adds $17M annually to the local economy in tourist dollars.

Did I hear that correctly?

I enjoy our little zoo, but that statement doesn't seem credible.


JoeAlbero said...

10:44, that's a lie. Not you but what you were told or heard on PAC 14. Absolutely not true at all.

Anonymous said...

10:44 here. Thanks. Didn't think it seemed plausible.

Laura Mitchell is the one who made that statement, in response to a citizen who was making public comments about the zoo.

After Mitchell made that comment, the citizen (don't know her name) tried to rebut Mitchell's claim, but was told she couldn't by Day.

Anonymous said...

I waited until the Border Patrol was busy with another group when I entered the US.It was almost like in a movie.I walked across and just kept on truckin.That was 10 years ago.I'm legal now.